Team Communication

A recent study shows that it takes, on average, 23 minutes to refocus your attention after being disrupted. Simone Stolzoff writes about a recent experiment by Mathilde Collin, co-founder and CEO of Front, in which Collin turned off all of her notifications. She loved it so much, she encouraged her team to do it too. Give it a read to see how they all did. #NoNotifications

Communication is challenging on any team, let alone a remote team where body language is hard to read, communication is usually asynchronous, and it's not possible to just swing by someone's desk for a quick chat. Taurie Davis of GitLab gives guidance and explains why BICEPS are essential for a strong team. We're not talking about an arm wrestling team, we're talking about what's critical to feel happy at work. Check it out and start building a better foundation for your team's communication.

Leadership & Management

In the software industry, we take ideas, concepts, and vision and translate them into functionality. Joe Dunn makes a very compelling comparison between software engineers and writers. Juggling timelines, budgets, and high stakes while navigating creativity, structure, improvisation, and deliberation - the parallels are surprisingly obvious. So what does that mean for how you should manage your team of "writers"?

If you have a developer on your team that "just wants to code" you should consider it a red flag. Marcus Blankenship highlights the fact that as the leader, you are responsible for creating an environment where your team is engaged. Where they are part of the solution and can fully contribute. "Just wanting to code" is a sign that a team member feels like they can't be part of the solution.

Productivity & Estimation

Noah Davis of Code Climate gives a quick overview of cycle time and why we all should be measuring and attempting to reduce it. Don't assume that you are getting things done as fast as they can be. If you employ lean manufacturing concepts, reduce batch sizes, and address bottlenecks, you can continue to shorten the cycle time on your team.

Want to be a better software developer? Or, um, have software developers on your team that you want to be better? In this handbook, Tyler Hakes outlines in detail a number of very practical and easily implemented practices and fundamentals that you and your team can start today. Things like tracking and measuring your performance and starting a side project. A solid read for anyone in a development role.

People & Culture

Chris Nagele and his team at Wildbit recently decided to take a week off from using public channels in Slack (DMs were still permitted). What they discovered was Slack was causing a lot of FOMO, distractions, and reasons for procrastination. But, surprisingly, they also found turning off Slack had some negative side effects. Check out the article to read about the good and the bad, as well as some things you can try with your team without going to the extreme of a "week off from Slack".

The folks at Trello make a strong case for why you should create a "no laptops" rule for your meetings, or in the case of remote teams, disable notifications and close apps. Instead of the typical approach of condemning all multi-tasking, they explain that the real issue is task switching. Trying to juggle two sources of information, one on-screen and one off-screen, is where the real problem exists.

Only Slightly Off-Topic

Luke Dormehl discusses the painting created by A.I. that recently sold at Christie's auction house for over $400,000. As fascinating as it is to consider how an algorithm created something capable of fetching almost half a million dollars at an art auction, it's equally compelling to consider what this means to our definition of creativity, and ultimately, what (if any) boundaries exist for A.I.

Have you tried Status Hero yet?

Status Hero is a lightweight tool for tracking daily goals, activity, and status updates from your team. It works with your existing tools, like email, Jira, GitHub, Trello, and Slack. Skip costly meetings, map goals to accomplishments, and unearth blocking issues quickly. Status Hero helps you and your team get more done with fast access to the big picture. Give it a shot with a free trial.

Did we miss something noteworthy?

Let us know! We're always on the hunt for helpful articles. Just email us at leadingsoftwarepeople@statushero.com